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Chernobyl Nuclear Plant (archive photo)
Photo: GENYA SAVILOV / AFP
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is alarmed.
The reason: the fighting surrounding the destroyed Chernobyl nuclear facility.
Because of the potential risk of accidents, they are following the situation in Ukraine "with great concern," the UN organization said on Thursday.
She demanded "a maximum of restraint" from everyone involved.
An unsecured nuclear facility harbors great danger.
The Russian military had previously seized the destroyed nuclear reactor in northern Ukraine after "bitter" fighting with Ukrainian forces, as Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podoliak announced on Thursday evening.
The condition of the old reactor facility, the protective shell over the highly radioactive accident reactor and the nuclear fuel storage facility is not known, Podoljak said.
"It is impossible to say whether the power plant is safe." It is "one of the most serious threats to Europe."
The Chernobyl reactor catastrophe in April 1986 was the worst nuclear accident in the world;
36 years later, the area is still radioactively contaminated for a wide area.
kfr/AFP